The Kelantan hotel industry is in dire straits, many of whom face the possibility of closure or can continue their operations for just two more months.

Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Kelantan president, Maimun Mohd Hussain urged the government to consider a relaxation of no district travel regulations in order to revitalize the tourism industry of the state, especially its hotel sector.

“If this relaxation is given, it could give a new lease of life to the 17 two-star up to five-star hotels across the state so as to remain in business after facing various challenges since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

“We expect many hotels in the state to close if the situation continues for the next two months. Even now the management of most of these hotels has been forced to take drastic measures like giving their workers half pay or leave without pay or even reducing the number of workers.

“If the cross-district travel relaxation is given, it could save the jobs of about 2,000 hotel employers in the state,” she said at a news conference.

To revive the hotel industry of the state, Maimun said that the association had had discussions with the state government on a variety of issues, including a 70% discount on the hotel license as the sales of hotel rooms now dropped below 50 per cent, plus an incentive of RM10,000 for each hotel registered under MAH.

“We are also asking for 50 per cent discount on the water bills under Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd (AKSB) and also 50 per cent discount on the city tax and other related taxes," she added.

Maimun said Kelantan MAH understood the concern of the state government over the activities of the hotel industry during the pandemic but assured that hotels would follow the government's standard operating procedure (SOP) if the hotels were able to operate completely as normal.